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An Excursus on the Subtle Body in Tantric Buddhism. Notes

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An Excursus on the Subtle Body in Tantric Buddhism. Notes THE JOURNAL OF THE INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF BUDDHIST STUDIES EDITOR-IN-CHIEF A. K. Narain University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA EDITORS L. M.Joshi Ernst Steinkellner Punjabi University University of Vienna Patiala, India Wien, Austria Alexander W. Macdonald Jikido Takasaki Universite de Paris X University of Tokyo Nanterre, France Tokyo, fapan Bardwell Smith Robert Thurman Carleton College Amherst College Northfield, Minnesota, USA Amherst, Massachusetts, USA ASSISTANT EDITOR Roger Jackson FJRN->' Volume 6 1983 Number 2 CONTENTS I. ARTICLES A reconstruction of the Madhyamakdvatdra's Analysis of the Person, by Peter G. Fenner. 7 Cittaprakrti and Ayonisomanaskdra in the Ratnagolravi- bhdga: Precedent for the Hsin-Nien Distinction of The Awakening of Faith, by William Grosnick 35 An Excursus on the Subtle Body in Tantric Buddhism (Notes Contextualizing the Kalacakra)1, by Geshe Lhundup Sopa 48 Socio-Cultural Aspects of Theravada Buddhism in Ne­ pal, by Ramesh Chandra Tewari 67 The Yuktisas(ikakdrikd of Nagarjuna, by Fernando Tola and Carmen Dragonetti 94 The "Suicide" Problem in the Pali Canon, by Martin G. Wiltshire \ 24 II. BOOK REVIEWS 1. Buddhist and Western Philosophy, edited by Nathan Katz 141 2. A Meditators Diary, by Jane Hamilton-Merritt 144 3. The Roof Tile ofTempyo, by Yasushi Inoue 146 4. Les royaumes de I'Himalaya, histoire et civilisation: le La- dakh, le Bhoutan, le Sikkirn, le Nepal, under the direc­ tion of Alexander W. Macdonald 147 5. Wings of the White Crane: Poems of Tskangs dbyangs rgya mtsho (1683-1706), translated by G.W. Houston The Rain of Wisdom, translated by the Nalanda Transla­ tion Committee under the Direction of Chogyam Trungpa Songs of Spiritual Change, by the Seventh Dalai Lama, Gyalwa Kalzang Gyatso 149 III. NOTES AND NEWS 1. A Report on the International Seminar: Aspects of Indi­ an Thought j57 An Excursus on the Subtle Body in Tantric Buddhism (Notes Contextualizing the Kalacakra)1 by Geshe Lhundup Sopa There are two main schemes for classifying the tantras, a nine­ fold and a four-fold scheme.2 Within the four-fold scheme, which we are following, the highest or anuttara* class is further subdivided into father and mother tantra according to whether the tantric method (updya) or the tantric wisdom (prajna) pre­ dominates in the tantra's course of practical development,1 the specifically tantric method being that of an illusory body, and the specifically tantric wisdom being that of the knowledge of emptiness inseparable from bliss. The Kalacakra-tantra then, is a tantra of the anuttara class, and is usually subdivided as a moth­ er tantra/' However, among tantras of the anuttara class, wheth­ er father or mother, the Kalacakra has several unique features which are not common to the other tantras. Among these fea­ tures, the most preeminent is the empty-form method of the Kalacakra, in contradistinction to the illusory-body method of the other anuttara tantras, like the Guhyasamaja. This brings us to the main subject of our paper, the idea of subtle body, which, in turn, brings us to the traditional idea of the superiority of the tantric method. When one speaks of the superiority of the tantric method, one is following in the mainstream of later Indian Buddhism and the form in which Buddhism entered and was preserved in Tibet by such illustrious acaryas as Santaraksita, Padmasam- bhava,*' Sa skya Pandita, Atlsa,7 Tsong kha pa, and others too numerous to mention. Similarly, by "superiority" one means the advantages which the tantras themselves claim for the tan­ tric method over the other path options offered by Buddhism. 48 TANTRIC BUDDHISM 49 In particular, the tantras, being a teaching of the Mahayana, supplement the common8 path of the Mahayana, i.e., the Para- mitayana, or path laid out in the Mahayana sutras, by the addi­ tion of a particular tantric method and wisdom. This is to say that the tantric method is usually held to be in addition to rather than in lieu of many of the common paths of the Mahayana sutras. In the literature of the subject, the Paramita or sutra paths are referred to as the vehicle of the cause, or causal vehicle,*' and the tantric paths as the vehicle of the effect, or fruition vehicle,10 and it is repeatedly said that the cultivation of the causal vehicle precedes somewhat the attainment of the fruition vehicle, or, in other words, that the development of the Paramaitayana goes before Tantrayana, inasmuch as the Para- mitayana is the very matrix into which the special practices of the Tantrayana are to be assimilated. Here, however, the words, "cause" and "effect," refer simply to meditation on the causes of enlightenment, in contradistinction to meditation on the final result or effect, which is enlightenment itself from the point of view of its qualities and realizations. Thus, the sutra paths teach mainly the cultivation of the causes of enlighten­ ment, i.e., the virtues of the six (and ten) perfecteds (parami- tas); charity (ddna), a permissible conduct (sila), tolerance (ksdnti), and meditation (dhydna) count as method (updya), wis­ dom (prajna) as wisdom (prajna),11 and manly effort (virya) as common to the development of both wisdom and method.12 These six staples of a Bodhisattva's conduct are the causes of enlightenment according to the sutras, but thus broken down, the practice of the method side is said to produce the corporeal aggregate (rupakdya) of a Buddha, whereas the wisdom side is said to produce the realization aggregate (dharmakaya)1:< of a Buddha at the time of achieving perfect enlightenment. However, from the tantric point of view, the sutras do not expose altogether adequately the causes of the form-body of a Buddha, for although the virtues of those perfecteds (para­ mita) which constitute method may be the remote cause of a Buddha's form-aggregate, the proximate cause of this form- aggregate is a subtle body which needs to be first generated and subsequently ripened by practices above and beyond the six (or ten) paramitas. Thus, according to the tantras, just the sutra method cannot lead beyond the ten Bodhisattva stages,11 and 50 JIABS VOL. 6 NO. 2 the Bodhisattva who has obtained the tenth stage will still have to practice the tantric method in order to progress from the tenth stage to perfect enlightenment,15 which is to be under­ stood as the fulfillment not of a single but of a twofold objec­ tive, i.e., the assured well-being of oneself and of others achieved through the attainment, respectively, of the realiza­ tion-body and the form-body16 of a Buddha. Even more point­ edly, although the generation of a subtle body is the proximate cause of the form-aggregate of perfect enlightenment, from the meditator's point of view, the direct or immediate object of its cultivation is the welfare of others. Finally, according to the tantras, the wisdom achieved by the Paramitayana is excelled by that realized through the tan­ tric method. Here, however, the excellence of wisdom is not being measured from the point of view of the object realized, which for both ydnas is emptiness (sunyata), but rather from the point of view of the qualities of the realizing mind or mental state, which is a particularly subtle and blissful consciousness often referred to as the "clear light" (prabhdsvara). The actual (tib. dongyi) clear light is uniquely the product of yoga, and this clear light as the realizer of emptiness is simultaneously an experiencer of great bliss,17 unlike the neutral consciousness realizing emptiness at the culmination of the Paramitayana paths, and therein lies the reason for the tantras' claim of bring­ ing about a "superior" wisdom. This realization of emptiness inseparable from an experience of great bliss is often called Mahdmudra. Although the actual clear light is solely the product of yoga, it has its analogue in ordinary life in another extremely subtle consciousness, which, together with its supporting mate­ rial element, the tantras hold to have a close relation with the vitalor biotic force itself.18 By way of analogy with the actual clear light, it is named "the clear light of death," as this con­ sciousness is ordinarily dormant, or latent, or potential, appear­ ing as something only at the time of death. The tantric method seeks by its peculiar yoga practices to arouse this clear light of death, and once it is manifest, to transform it into a knower of emptiness and so to produce the actual clear light. Thus, the tantras profess not only to complete the paths of the sutras by providing them with an adequate material cause, but also by the same methods to expedite and greatly speed up IANTRIC BUDDHISM 51 the attainment of the final goal of the Mahayana. As the vehicle of the fruition, the tantric method of cultivation does not per se focus on the slow, patient accumulation of virtuous causes, but, rather, focuses directly on the final result, the form and realiza­ tion aggregates, by emulating them here and now after the fashion of a simulated19 performance, or a dress rehearsal, or a dry run, and by so meditating continuously, it seeks to move more rapidly from mere simulation to the actual reality of its accomplishment. Thus, what is first pretended for the purpose of its being later obtained is divine mind-body, and the method of its attainment is the deity yoga of the anuttara tantras, with their two sets of steps or stages, i.e., the steps of generation and the steps of completion.20 The path system of the anuttara tan­ tras might profitably be called a Buddhist path of apotheosis,21 of which the anuttara tantras offer two main types.
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